and said, with a sort of surprised
questioning in her eyes, "No, not with you. But then we shall often go
to the Lewis?"

"Oh yes," her husband said, "as often as we can conveniently. But it
will take some time at first, you know, before you get to know all my
friends who are to be your friends, and before you get properly fitted
into our social circle. That will take you a long time, Sheila, and
you may have many annoyances or embarrassments to encounter; but you
won't be very much afraid, my girl?"

Sheila merely looked up to him: there was no fear in the frank, brave
eyes.

The first large town she saw struck a cold chill to her heart. On a
wet and dismal afternoon they sailed into Greenock. A heavy smoke hung
about the black building-yards and the dirty quays; the narrow and
squalid streets were filled with mud, and only the poorer sections of
the population waded through the mire or hung disconsolately about
the corners of the thoroughfares. A gloomier picture could not well
be conceived; and Sheila, chilled with the long and wet sail and
bewildered by the noise and bustle of the harbor, was driven to the
hotel with a sore heart and a downcast face.

"This is not like London, Frank?" she said, pretty nearly ready to cry
with disappointment.

"This? No. Well, it is like a part of London, certainly, but not the
part you will live in."

"But how can we live in the one place without passing the other and
being made miserable by it? There was no part of Oban like this."

"Why, you will live miles away from the docks and quays of London.
You might live for a lifetime in London without ever knowing it had a
harbor. Don't you be afraid, Sheila. You will live in a district where
there are far finer houses than any you saw in Oban, and far finer
trees; and within a few minutes' walk you will find great gardens and
parks, with lakes in them and wild-fowl, and you will be able to
teach the boys about how to set the helm and the sails when they are
launching their small boats."

"I should like that," said Sheila, with her face brightening.

"Perhaps you would like a boat yourself?"

"Yes," she said frankly. "If there were not many people there, we
might go out sometimes in the evening--"

Her husband laughed and took her hand: "You don't understand, Sheila.
The boats the boys have are little things a foot or two long--like the
one in your papa's bed-room in Borva. But many of the boys would be
greatly obliged to